Louis Tomlinson says bandmate Niall Horan told him of Liam Payne’s death
(from left) Archive picture of Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson. Picture: Joe Giddens/PA
Louis Tomlinson has revealed Niall Horan informed him about the death of the pair’s former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne, saying “we all looked up to him”.
The 33-year-old said Payne had been pushing for a reunion of the band, which also included Harry Styles and Zayn Malik.
Payne died at the age of 31 in October last year after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina.
Speaking to host Steven Bartlett on The Diary Of A CEO podcast, Tomlinson said he was in Los Angeles when he first heard of Payne’s death.
“In the car, in LA. I found out through Niall,” he said, telling Bartlett the news evoked a similar reaction to when his sister Felicite died of an accidental drug overdose in 2019.
“I had the same feeling that I had with Felicite, and I think anyone has this when they’re around someone who’s struggling; my 150% wasn’t nearly enough.
“And that’s when it’s my own arrogance thinking that I could have helped really, because it was so much deeper than what I could have done for him. He was definitely struggling at that time in his life.”
A post-mortem examination report said Payne died of multiple traumas and “internal and external haemorrhage” after falling from a third-floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires.
At the time, Tomlinson shared an Instagram post in which he said he was “beyond devastated” to have “lost a brother”.
“When I put up my post about him, I really wanted him to be remembered the way that he should be remembered,” Tomlinson told Bartlett.
“I could just go on and talk all day about how amazing he was, but I think we all looked up to him.”
Tomlinson also revealed that Payne had been campaigning for a One Direction reunion, but he said it would not feel “right”.
“Never say never… but I’m just not sure it would be right to (Payne),” Tomlinson said.
“Say for the sake of argument, 25 years’ time, it’s like a f****** Oasis thing, they offer us an arm and a leg, and they’re like, ‘Come back and do this many shows’, I don’t know.
“(Payne’s death) just completely put a pin in all of that.
“And the irony is, there was no one campaigning for One Direction to get back more than Liam. I would say I came in a close second.”
A court in Argentina dropped charges in February of criminal negligence against three out of the five people who had been charged in connection with Payne’s death.
At the Brit Awards in March he was remembered with a video montage which showed him with his family and a clip from his time on The X Factor and then with One Direction, who won seven gongs at the music awards before they split up.
After his band went on hiatus Payne released his debut solo album LP1 in December 2019, which included the songs Polaroid with Lennon Stella and Jonas Blue, and Strip That Down featuring Quavo, as well as the track For You with Rita Ora.
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